Ganondorf Syndrome
Ganondorf Syndrome is when a character who is popular with their home fanbase is less popular in Smash. This can be for several reasons, including being a clone or having an ineffective moveset. Coincidentally, all three "full" clones in Smash 4 (Dr. Mario, Lucina and Dark Pit) suffer from this. See the category for Ganondorf Syndrome sufferers. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Jigglypuff Syndrome, where the character is more popular in Smash than in their home fanbase. A recurring opinion for these types of characters is that Custom Moves improve both their competitive viability and their enjoyability in general. Examples include Ganondorf's Warlock Blade, Charizard's Dragon Rush, and Palutena's everything. The "true" clones get no such benefit. Examples Ganondorf One of the most iconic and badass video game villains of all time, Ganondorf is often derided in Smash for being a clone of Captain Falcon. Many cite him as one of the most nonsensical clones of all, due to his frequent use of magic and swordplay in his home series rather than bare-knuckle Falcon-style brawling. He remains a clone all the way up to SSB4, but at least he picked up a couple of unique moves (and even a sword attack) along the way. A common debate is whether "de-cloning" Ganondorf would be a good thing or not, since a few people are used to his cloned moveset and enjoy using it; his customs, while still variants of his shared specials with Falcon, are different from Falcon's, with Warlock Blade being the best example. Ganondorf Syndrome is named after him. Mario Yes, Mr. Video Game Himself suffers from this. While Mario is the most iconic video game character of all (and the most popular with general/casual audiences), many believe his moveset in the Smash series to be very boring and basic, with his only unique/gimmicky move (FLUDD) coming from an ancient GameCube game that nobody really liked. Smash Mario is so widely viewed as being "the character you ignore" that it isn't funny, unfortunately for the poor plumber. His becoming more effective in Smash 4 (while keeping the same moveset) did help a bit. Dr. Mario In his home game, he's just Mario in scrubs. In Smash, he's just Mario in scrubs... taking up an extra character slot. Go figure. Charizard Frequently dominates Pokémon popularity polls the same way Link dominates general Nintendo/Smash/game character popularity polls; Charizard is generally believed to be the most popular Pokémon of all outside of Pikachu's demographic. However, in Smash, Charizard was introduced in Brawl as a subpar member of Pokémon Trainer's team who couldn't even be used as his own character due to the stamina mechanic. Many Pokémon fans wanted to play Charizard on their own, while others simply glossed over him (and Pokémon Trainer in general) due to PT's bizarre gimmicks making him very hard to use, and none of PT's Pokémon really counting as a full character. Despite Charizard getting his own awesome newcomer-style introduction and tagline in Smash 4, the damage had already been done, and he's been cited as one of the harder characters to use in the game; his pre-existing Pokémon fanbase was far more excited for his inclusion than the general Smash fanbase was. In fact, many claimed that the fiery dragon should be bottom-tier until they figured out how to use him, and various high-level players used him to beat some of the better characters in the game, such as Sheik (also high-level). Of course, tiers remain subjective, and despite knowing how to use him people still don't consider him to be among the better characters. His Brawl moveset was also generally regarded as uninteresting and unfitting (Rock Smash, anyone?), though the addition of Flare Blitz in Smash 4 helped a lot, as that one move is agreed to be Charizard's coolest-looking move and one of his best (if still difficult to use). Note that Squirtle and Ivysaur got a similar treatment as the two other members of Pokémon Trainer's team, but their reception varied slightly (Squirtle was viewed as very good apart from PT's mechanics, while Ivysaur was all over the place, and both Pokémon don't have the same kind of fanbase that Charizard does). And, of course, both were cut in Smash 4. Lucina Very popular with the Fire Emblem Awakening fanbase and frequently wins popularity polls as well; however, she is a less effective clone of Marth in Smash. Although her being a clone makes sense due to her impersonating Marth in her home game (and the real Marth in Awakening being a headswap of her), she is still rather divisive among Smash fans, with some people defending her due to her role in Awakening and her attractiveness, and others calling her the second-worst newcomer next to Dark Pit (third-worst if you count Mii Fighters). Even worse is that her Custom Moves... are also copies of Marth's. Note that this has nothing to do with Awakening or its characters being unpopular, as Lucina's friend/ally/potential husband or mother Robin is the most popular newcomer on the board (maybe the most popular character on SmashFAQs in general), thanks to his/her very unique moveset that's pretty much the opposite of Luci's. In fact, her unique nature character-wise makes her the most well-liked of the three "true" clones in Smash 4, which isn't saying much. Dark Pit Believe it or not, the most hated Smash character of all time was fairly well-liked with his home fanbase, mostly due to his being able to show more of a personality and his relationship with Pit being fleshed out. In Smash, he's both a clone and a palette swap, and a stereotypically "edgy" young teenage character similar to Shadow the Hedgehog and a zillion shitty OCs out there. Palutena Despite being SmashFAQs' most wanted choice for a newcomer for a time (beating even Ridley), the Goddess of Light isn't nearly as popular as she once was (and still is with Kid Icarus' own fanbase), in part because she is accused of being a prime example of Sakurai bias for three reasons: * Her gimmick is having 12 unique Custom Moves, while other characters (other than the widely-hated Mii Fighters) don't get the same - even Ganondorf's Warlock Blade is just a Warlock Punch variant; *''Kid Icarus'' getting a newcomer in the first place while Metroid, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda didn't get any (despite Palutena being an extremely popular choice); * Being announced at E3 along with the more "special" Pac-Man and Mii Fighters. Additionally, Palutena's default moveset is generally regarded as boring and ineffective (she even has yet another counter!). Her customs fare much better, seeing as it's her entire gimmick, but they can't be used online "With Anyone" and a few fans label them as lazy copies of other characters' moves (despite their actually originating straight from Uprising). Oh, and people find her parts in Palutena's Guidance to be among the most boring (most of what she says amounts to telling Pit to use the Guardian Orbitars... not that people found the Guidance itself much better). Nowadays, her fanbase is mostly stereotyped by Perverted Palutena Fanboys (including Sakurai) rather than Smash fans in general. Category:Terminology Category:Characters with Significant Hatedoms